Houston Symphony salutes the Best of Brahms

Published 11:00 pm, Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Houston Symphony will dedicate three weeks to the Best of Brahms, starting Sept. 14.

The Houston Symphony will dedicate three weeks to the Best of Brahms, starting Sept. 14.

Photo: Submitted Photo

Houston Symphony salutes the Best of Brahms

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

Beginning on Sept. 14, the Houston Symphony will dedicate the first thee weeks of the 2012-2013 Classical Season to the Best of Brahms.

The three weekends of the Best of Brahms, which include five different concert programs, will take an in-depth look at many of Brahms’ works including his four Symphonies, two Piano Concertos, the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, the German Requiem and many other beloved and blissful works. The compositions of Johannes Brahms are especially meaningful to Houston Symphony Music Director Hans Graf.

“At the age of 16, the very first score I bought with my pocket money was a pocket score of Brahms Symphony No. 4,” said Graf. “As I studied this masterpiece, my juvenile love of Brahms began to grow and has endured throughout my life. Even knowing his music for decades, Brahms still holds the power to surprise us, with something new to discover around every turn of phrase.”

A German composer who lived during the mid-nineteenth century, Johannes Brahms is respected as one of the greatest masters of musical form and a pioneer of the Romantic musical time period. Like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Brahms had an uncanny ability to achieve structural integrity in his music, while at the same time allowing the notes to passionately dance off the page with an expressive romanticism. This delicate balance allows Brahms’ music to connect with audiences on a deeper level and even inspired 20th century composer Arnold Schoenberg to credit Brahms with “great innovation in musical language.”

Contributing to the Houston Symphony’s Best of Brahms concerts will be pianists Jonathan Biss and longtime Graf friend, Garrick Ohlsson. Houston Symphony Concertmaster Frank Huang and Principal Cellist Brinton Averil Smith will also be featured in the captivating Concerto for Violin and Cello. Maestro Hans Graf will conduct the first two Best of Brahms weekends, while Finnish guest conductor John Storgårds, another noted interpreter of Brahms, will conduct the final weekend.